LUTHER BURBANK 



could not be made in this way of all the varieties, 

 it was possible to make a very fair comparative 

 test. The poorer seedlings were from time to time 

 removed, leaving space for better development of 

 those that remained. Later some of the trees 

 whose fruit was not promising were used as 

 stocks on which to graft hybrid pears and other 

 seedlings. 



By this method I have tested probably fifty 

 thousand quince seedlings. 



The first important result of this experiment 

 in crossbreeding was the production of a quince 

 of large size from a seedling produced by pollen- 

 izing a Portugal quince with the Orange quince. 

 Among my seedlings one individual showed 

 marked superiority over its fellows even in the 

 seed-bed, by its unusual vigor and the rich green 

 of its large, finely formed foliage. 



Among the entire lot of 700 cross-bred seed- 

 lings, this one alone proved really valuable. 



The fruit it bore received the Wilder Medal at 

 the meeting of the American Pomological Society 

 at Washington, D. C., in September, 1891. It was 

 so generally admired and promised to be so valu- 

 able that Professor H. E. Van Deman, then Chief 

 of Division of Pomology, U. S. Department of Ag- 

 riculture, was pleased to have it named for him. 

 The Van Deman quince inherits great productiv- 



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